Undoubtedly the greatest curse to the pioneers of a new settlement, and to the aborigines as well, is the liquor traffic. The Indians, under the influence of whisky, became infuriated and were capable of committing any atrocity; the effects upon the whites were not so violent but just as surely demoralizing, and in time as fatal. Among dealers in the vile fluid there was no one more persistent and unscrupulous than Capt. M. M. Samuels. During the summers of 1848 and 1849 there was no other whisky selling house at the Falls. The character of the whisky sold was vile beyond description. Mrs. H—— and son informed me that they were employed by Samuels during the summer in compounding various roots with tobacco and boiling them, for the manufacture of a strong drink that was sold for whisky. Many, both whites and Indians, were poisoned by this compound. As an emphatic evidence against the vileness of the liquor, I append some of the blighting results:
A talented young lawyer, Hall by name, from Philadelphia, became infatuated with the peculiar whisky furnished by Samuels, and when insane from its effects ran from Barlow's boarding house to a high rock overhanging the St. Croix river, just below the falls, plunged in and was drowned.
Another, named Douglas, under the same influence, tried repeatedly to drown himself, when his friends bound him securely with cords. He then managed to stab himself.
Alexander Livingston, a man who in youth had had excellent advantages, became himself a dealer in whisky, at the mouth of Wolf creek, in a drunken melee in his own store was shot and killed by Robido, a half-breed. Robido was arrested but managed to escape justice.
Livingston, once, when on his way from Wolf creek to Clam falls, sought refuge in my camp, having with him two kegs of whisky. The Indians soon collected at the camp in fighting trim and sung and danced madly about the door of the cabin, and clamored for scoot-a-wa-bo (whisky). I refused to allow any whisky to be issued. The Indians were furious. Livingston cowered with fear. Foreseeing trouble I ordered Nat Tibbetts and Jonathan Brawn to take the kegs and follow me. The Indians stopped their gymnastic performances and gazed intently. With an axe and with a single blow on each keg I knocked in the heads, and the whisky was soon swallowed up in the snow. The Indians sprang forward with demoniac yells and commenced licking up the saturated snow, after which they danced around me, calling me "Oge-ma" (captain). I gave them food and they went away sober and apparently satisfied.
FRONTIER JUSTICE.
In the spring of 1848 there were two rival whisky sellers at or near Balsam lake. Miles Tornell, a Norwegian, was located midway between the lake and the Falls. Miller, a German, had his post at the lake. Miller was an older trader, and claimed exclusive rights. A bitter feeling sprang up between them, which resulted, as the testimony afterward proved, in the murder of Tornell. His house was burned, and his body found concealed in a coal pit. One McLaughlin, who was stopping with Tornell, was also murdered. An investigation was set on foot. Samuels and Fields acted as detectives, and fixed the crime upon an Indian, whom they arrested on an island in Blake's lake, and brought to the Falls for trial. H. H. Perkins acted as judge, a jury of good men was impaneled, and the trial was held in Daniel Mears' store. A prosecuting attorney and counsel for the accused were appointed. The Indian frankly confessed the killing, and said that he had been hired to do the bloody work by Miller. Another Indian testified to being present on the occasion of the murder. After brief remarks by the lawyers, the jury brought in a verdict of guilty. There was no formal sentence. The Indian was kept under guard till next morning, when, by the unanimous consent of all present, he was hanged to a tree, since blighted, that stood near the old burying ground (later Louisiana street), and was hanged, Samuels officiating as sheriff. The Indians present were permitted to take the body, which they buried with Indian rites. Toward Miller, who ought to have been held as principal, the crowd were unexpectedly lenient. Instead of being hanged upon the same tree, he was merely lashed to it, and flogged, Pat Collins administering fifteen strokes on the bare back with a beech withe. He was then placed on a steamboat and ordered to leave the country, never to return. Of the more active participants in the hanging, Pat Collins, who officiated as hangman, and who flogged Miller, was undeniably a hard citizen. He had a bitter grudge against Miller, and administered the strokes with a will. He was himself hanged some years later in California for highway robbery. Chas. F. Rowley, who assisted in the hanging, lived for some years on a farm at Wolf creek, enlisted in 1861 in the Union army, and was killed in battle.
POPULATION OF ST. CROIX FALLS IN 1848.
The following heads of families resided in St. Croix Falls in 1848: H. H. Perkins, Edward Worth, G. W. Brownell, Otis Hoyt, J. Saunders, R. Arnold, L. Barlow, A. L. Tuttle, M. M. Samuels, Geo. De Attley, Moses Perin, and W. H. C. Folsom.
The following single men claimed this as their home: D. Mears, J. L. and N. C. D. Taylor, P. Kelly, A. Romain, J. and W. R. Marshall, W. F. Colby, Dr. De Witt, W. J. Vincent, C. Dexter, A. Youle, H. H. Newberry, J. and O. Weymouth, Geo. Field, W. W. Folsom, J. H. Tuller, J. Dobney, J. Paine, and some others whose names I can not readily recall.